LOSING the TAG of a RIOT HIT COLONY (Case Study of Palda Village,Muzaffarnagar,UP)
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Title: LOSING THE TAG OF A RIOT HIT COLONY (Case study of Palda village,Muzaffarnagar,UP) Category/ Broad Area: Planning and Architectural Interventions Aim The project is an attempt to amend the relationship of the riot hit community with the rest of the world and remedying their situation through various social interventions and providing infrastructure to generate self employment and fulfilling requirements of self employment recreation,education and healthcare. Objectives Building a belief that the world is a safe place,developing a sense of security and safety in the traumatised ones and at the same time maintaining public concern and interest. To develop it as a secure and stable neighbourhood community where all the basic needs are fulfilled . Promote community participation and encourage local entrepreneurship to restore economic productivity by creating a new morphology for self employment practices in such communities. To make a conscious effort in evolving social networking to ease their exposure ensuring that it is linked and interacts with the major nearby towns and suburbs. Scope Providing architectural solutions so that the needs of these internally displaced persons are met in terms of safety,community/belonging,esteem and self actualisation. ---rehabilitation housing for the victims ---nursing homes,dispensary ---secondary level education ---public spaces for local interaction Creating ownership among the community,Long term focus and developing relationships. Generating income through home based enterprises which has a multiplier effect on the society. ---local set up of cottage industries ---skill development centre,vocational training centre Limitations No concrete source available to collect data on pre riot conditions. Media manipulation create an image that results in ambiguity and thus it fails to ensure a piece which meticulously present both sides of the story. Due to certain circumstances visiting nearby riot hit villages is not possible ,hence it limits our reach. Site available might not accomodate all the requirements therefore land acquisition proposal has to be given. PREREQUISITE Develop an understanding of the nuances of the rural life. Study the demographic transition in a riot hit area. Study the role of NGO’s and other state agencies in a riot hit village. Understanding the present social condition of the refugee colony using the cultural and economic factors as a measure. INITIAL APPROACH STEPWISE PROCEDURE DETAILED PROCEDURE Need for Study Traditionally, rural settlements represent the best synthesis of people’s ability to modify the environment to their own advantage . Moreover India on the lines of an alleged developing nation is rapidly rising on the ashes of its backwoods. Nearly five lakh villages exist in India. While only about 28 per cent of the population lives in the cities, 72 per cent of the population lives in the villages. The villages thus occupy a place of great importance in the country. Issue Selection A grave humanitarian crisis has unfolded, and victims are lodged at the refugee colony are facing official neglect and terrible living conditions .All living beings on earth are entitled to live a secure life with familiar surrounding around them. But they were left with nothing of this when the misfortune struck. They are not able to satisfy lower level basic needs only before they progress on to meet higher level growth needs. Their society has to be empowered in order to overcome their hardships and the economic stagnancy. It is essential for these people to get rid of the stigma of the past. The plight of the survivors stranded between the apathy and ostracism of the society however speak a very different story.The present is of suffering, longing and depravity and hopes for a better future is non-existent. Making the situation worse is the silent suffering and the life of anonymity they are forced to lead in absence of any media coverage and efforts of outreach.The common public needs to be informed and sensitized to their existence and calls for help. The question here arises, as to how the society could be empowered in order to overcome their hardships and the economic stagnancy.The impending thaw, and the need of coming to terms with the harsh reality of reconstructing the very fabric of the community from scratch, puts us in a position to take notice, assess and ascertain the ways and methods to take in order to make it possible.To kick off this promising relationship with the community that we all are a part of, we need to work together to bring an end to the misery. Issue Introduction “Humanity is dying. All that is human is disappearing, And all that is inhuman is becoming more and more dominating and powerful.” -Osho, The Book of Wisdom, Ch 24 They say Communal wellbeing is central to human life but communal violence has become a major killer in India. The number of people being killed and maimed by other human beings at certain times and places exceeds those killed by diseases. In disgust people resort to violent means and become highly destructive .People do not understand a simple fact that if a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. A socio-biologist has described the periodic violence in cities as part of the ‘urban pathology’. Cramped living quarters, daily brush with overcrowding and skyscrapers co-existing with slums; are some of the characteristics of this urban phenomenon.In comparison rural areas are, by and large, self governed entities and there is hardly any worthwhile police presence at the village level. Peace is maintained as a ‘social compact’. There are many causes that have changed the rural social landscape and social compact; ranging from rapid communication to birth of new category -- ‘Ruburnisation’ (sort urbanised rural area).But in case of India, electoral politics dividing society in majority/minority, going on since the early 1990s, is a major contributing factor to this heightened tension between communities. What seems to be happening in 2013 is that the fruits of this poisonous tree seem to have matured in form of estrangement between communities.1 There have been periodic instances of communal violence in India since 1947. There is a significant change in the pattern of communal riots since the 1990 and a shift has occurred in the nature of communal riots in India. Religion in most of the cases is not the reason why communal riots occur. The reason for the occurrence of communal violence has been different in the two different phases. During the time of partition, it was the clash of political interests of the elite of two different communities which resulted in communal riots. But, from the 1960s till the late 1980s, the local political and economic factors played a very important role in instigating riots. The emergence of politics("poly" meaning "many", and "tics" meaning "blood-sucking parasites") in the last two decades has been a cause of communal riots in this phase where the local factors have also helped in instigating riots. “The lawlessness [of communalism] is a monster with many faces. It hurts all in the end, including those who are primarily responsible for it” -Mahatma Gandhi The Communal violence is one of the major threats to Indian democracy. It has been a barrier to the socio- economic development of India. Serious disturbance in communal harmony cause widespread destruction that even after unprecedented levels of funding later on it never quite come to full fruition. To some extent one can cope up with a natural disaster but recovering from the aftermath of a communal carnage where one's survival and sense of security is constantly threatened is perhaps improbable. The communal issue has deep roots in the Indian past. Few examples that caused devastation and destruction of property and life are- Hindu Muslim riot in Madhya Pradesh in 1961 Ahmedabad riots of 1969 1984 riots, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi Meerut riots of 1987 Bhagalpur riots in 1989 1 http://www.rediff.com/news/column/the-danger-signal-from-the-muzafarnagar-riots Mumbai riots in 1992 following by demolition of Bari Masjid Gujrat riots in 2002 Latest one are Muzaffarnagar riots in September 2013 that has prompted several villages to fight this situation of a civil unrest where provision for the restorative relief, rehabilitation and compensation to all persons affected by communal violence was very difficult. It is absolutely clear that even the best efforts of the army cannot prevent killings once rural areas get affected by the communal virus. 2013 MUZAFFARNAGAR RIOTS fig1: Mohammed Kadir, who lost his son and daughter-in-law in the riots, has now taken refuge in palda village with his grandsons Fig2: A boy looks at a burnt house in Lisad village in Muzaffarnagar district (UP) The clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India in August–September 2013, resulted in at least 62 deaths including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus and injured 93 and left more than 50,000 displaced. By 17 September, the curfew was lifted from all riot affected areas and the army was also withdrawn. “I worry about my kids being molested, my house being burglarized, my oldest boy being shot” These were the voices of mothers living in dangerous neighbourhoods of Qutba .The riot has been described as "the worst violence in Uttar Pradesh in recent history", with the army, as a result, being deployed in the state for the first time in last 20 years. It is for the first time after the september 1969 gujarat riots that a rural area has been affected by inter-community violence. State Government had organised relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts for riot victims of 9,000 families, with over 50,000 members.